by Chuck Zimmerheld
Iron Gate Studio’s Valheim is the best multiplayer survival crafting game since Minecraft. Its mastery over texture, lighting, audio, and mood on display here elevates it into a painted vision of the Norse afterlife. This and the game’s meticulously designed systems meld together to create a romanticized survival experience.
by Jesse Vitelli
Control Resonant is a beautifully messy sequel and a testament to Remedy’s ability to make something weird as hell.
by Jeff Grubb
It has plot, but what if it also had plot to go with the plot on top of the plot?
by Shawn McDowell
Wolverine is a game with momentary sparks of fun, but its mostly-good combat getting constantly dragged down by mediocre storytelling, poor pacing, and an underwhelming amount of player agency left me very bored far too often.
by Shawn McDowell
Marvel Tōkon is a near-ideal modern fighting game. Between meaningful layers of complexity, a solid amount of welcoming modes, and absolutely phenomenal presentation, Arc System Works has bent over backwards to make an accessible tag team fighter that could make anyone fall in love with the genre for the first time.
by Mike Minotti
Orbitals wears its co-op inspirations on its sleeve, but it still stands out with its gorgeous art and likable heroes.
by Jan Ochoa
Way of the Sword properly carries the mantle of the original games. Delivering exciting and satisfying combat swordplay in combination with an engaging story, Way of the Sword continues Capcom’s hot streak through 2026.
by Chuck Zimmerheld
Mortal Shell II is a fun-forward souls-like, one that values flexibility and variety over sheer difficulty. It grabs you and plies you with a plethora of options for tackling its monsters, dungeons, and bosses, handing you shiny toys and trusts you to work out what to do with them.
by Shawn McDowell
Beast of Reincarnation feels like the result of Game Freak’s designers having something to say (or at least wishing they did), but constantly struggling to find the right words. It eventually becomes a very fun action RPG to play, but stumbles many, many times on the path of getting there.
by Mike Minotti
I’m all for a slimmer, more focused Splatoon entry. And while Raiders feels great to play, it doesn’t capture that same creative majesty as some of Splatoon’s best solo campaigns.
by Jeff Grubb
Rhythm Heaven brings the cute quirkiness the series is known for to the Switch. It's also packed with a lot of content and distractions. It just might be missing some of the charm that has made previous games some of the best in the genre.
by Mike Minotti
It’s nice to have the Star Fox crew back, even if it isn’t in the most ambitious of games. Although it's certainly one of Nintendo's prettiest.